Tomorrow Awesome Con in Washington DC kicks off, and The Beat will be there.

In case you missed it, last year Awesome Con partnered up with Leftfield Media, the convention organization run by Greg Topalian, who founded New York Comic Con. Greg and I had a blast working on the very first NYCC together and I’ve actually consulted with Awesome Con on a few things as well, including some programming and consultation. So CONFLICT OF INTEREST ALERT.

That said, even before the team-up, I’d always heard very good things about this show, and it is in an area and a timeframe with a lot of convention potential. This year’s show includes comics guests Tom King, Skottie Young, Amy Reeder, Nick Galiafinakis and many more. The media presence is also quite large, including John Barrowman, Ron Perlman and Karl Urban. The programming is here but I’ll be taking part in the following panels:

SATURDAY PROGRAMMING

How To Break Into Comics (and Survive) 6/4/2016 / 12:30 PM-1:30 PM / Room 144 Comics! It seems like such a glamorous life, but what are the nitty gritty secrets of staying in the business? Everyone wants to know how to break into comics, but there are many paths to get there, and many ways of staying in. Our panel of artists and writers talk about developing as artists, branching out into other fields, and the rest of the skills needed to maintain a career. with Amy Reeder, Bryan Tillman, Carolyn Belefski, Justin Jordan and Shawn Martinbrough
Presented by The Beat. Rated: PG-13

How Women in Nerd Media Are Creating a Revolution 6/4/2016 / 5:45 PM-6:45 PM / Room 143 The last few years have seen an explosion in representation of women in comics and other geek media. Is female participation in traditionally male areas of entertainment a product of social media …or have women always secretly been nerds? Our star panel reveals the history of geekdom — and what’s next for this cultural revolution. Presented by The Beat. Rated: PG-13

SUNDAY PROGRAMMING
Election Year Comics 6/5/2016 /2:45 PM-3:45 PM / Room 144 Andrew Aydin (March). Tom King (Sherriff of Baghdad), Christina Blanch (Damnation of Charlie Wormwood) Michael Cavna (The Washington Post) and Fred Van Lente (Action Presidents) talk about politics and comics, negotiating personal history, academic study, and how comics have been used to record history …and make it a few times. Presented by The Beat. Rated: PG-13

I’m excited about all these, but esp. talking about politics in DC with a group of so many smart folks! I’ll be wandering around the show all three days so if you see me say hi, give me a scoop or check out some of the programming. Awesome Con should be an aw…fully good time.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.